There are times that we can lose the edge that we so desperately need to fulfill what God has called us to do and to be effective at home, at work, or at church. In this post, I want to share with you about regaining your edge.
Visit Second Kings, Chapter Six with me. I think you’ll find it an odd story, like I do.
2 Kings 6:1 – 7 (NLT) One day the group of prophets came to Elisha and told him, “As you can see, this place where we meet with you is too small. Let’s go down to the Jordan River, where there are plenty of logs. There we can build a new place for us to meet.” “All right,” he told them, “Go ahead.” “Please come with us,” someone suggested. “I will,” he said. So, he went with them. When they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees. But as one of them was cutting a tree, his ax head fell into the river. “Oh, sir!” he cried. “It was a borrowed ax!” “Where did it fall?” the man of God asked. When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot. Then the ax head floated to the surface. “Grab it,” Elisha said. And the man reached out and grabbed it.
Allow me to set the background and context for these verses. Elisha is the successor of Elijah. The Bible said that Elisha’s job was to wash the hands of Elijah. In other words, Elisha was called to serve Elijah. When Elisha was sensing that God was getting ready to take Elijah, he asked for a double portion of his anointing, because what you honor, you attract. And so, when Elijah went up in a fiery chariot, the Bible tells us that his mantle, which is simply a coat, was left on the Earth. That mantle marked Elijah as a prophet. It was also used in many of the miracles that Elijah performed. As Elijah goes up to Heaven, like in a picture of the Rapture, his mantle remains. And Elisha walks over, picks up that mantle, picks up that coat, and the first thing that he does is go to the Jordan River. He takes that mantle, and he strikes the Jordan. And the Bible said that the Jordan River opened up, and he crossed over on dry ground.
Now, it’s under Elisha’s leadership that the nation is blessed, and the Ministry of Prophets is growing. And I think that’s interesting. When you read what was going on prior to Elisha, when Elijah was the main prophet, the Bible said that Jezebel was slaying the prophets of God. Anyone who was declaring and speaking on behalf of God, Jezebel would have them sought out and murdered. And it just goes to show you that is how God works. God will use even something like that as a seed to continue to multiply His work and His people. And the Bible says that where they were being schooled and trained had become too small. They needed to expand. They needed to enlarge their territory in order for their ministry to continue to grow.
The younger generation has the vision for what’s next.
Now, in the story, the push for expansion was not coming from Elisha. The push for expansion was coming from one of the students, because many times it is the younger generation that has the vision for what’s next. This is why we cannot exclude the younger generation from what’s going on right now, because God has deposited within them the vision of what will happen next. Whether it’s in a church, whether it’s in a ministry, whether it’s in our life, whether it’s in our family, God gives the vision. The Bible says that your young men shall see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. So young men and women will see the future, while the older men and women will see the fulfillment of their dreams. I’m still having visions, by the way just in case you’re wondering where I’m at in the camp right now. So, Elisha agrees with the project. He agrees with the plan. And as a representative of God on the Earth, he also carried the Word of God. What this tells us is the work must be accompanied by the Word. Because if we’re going to work and build this thing, we need to build on a proper foundation.
Our foundation is the Word of God.
And that foundation in which we build upon is the Word of God. Jesus taught us that the winds would come, the rain would come, the storm would come, and the house that was built upon the rock, which is the Word, would remain. The house that was built upon sand would collapse. The Bible said they, the prophets, were cutting down trees. Now, if you have ever had the honor of cutting a tree down, you know that it is hard work, especially if you are using an ax to cut the tree down. Here’s the funny thing about this. I doubt very seriously that the Bible students signed up for cutting trees down. I’m a Bible student. I’m called to study. I’m called to pray. I’m called to preach. I’m called to do spiritual things. And yet the call of God led the prophet to have an ax in his hand.
Why is that? Because it takes all of us doing what God has called all of us to do to build what God has called us to build. Whatever God has placed in your hand and wherever God has placed you within this church body, it is important. We are all called to do the work of God. The analogy that I want you to see here is that ministry is work. Ministry is whatever needs to be done. It’s not easy building a school for the prophets. It’s not easy building a place where the word of God is taught, and the people of God are trained and equipped for the work of the ministry. That’s not easy. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. Spiritual growth, numerical growth requires work.
And the greater the growth, the greater the work. Many times, people think, “Well, things are happening. Things are moving. God is blessing.” And all that is true, and all that is right. But at the end of the day, it’s still a lot of work. And it’s because of His grace that we are able to do what He’s called us to do. Building one life at a time is work. As a matter of fact, anytime you build anything for God, it’s work. If you say, “I feel like God has called me to start my own business. I’d like to be my own boss.” Well, if you’ve not done that yet, let me just say this – it’s work. “Well, if I could just be the boss, it would be easier.” No, it would be much more difficult. Because if that’s your desire, then you better get ready to work more than you’ve ever had to before. There’s no time clock. If you own it, there’s no time clock.
The Jordan River symbolizes a transition.
The success of the School of the Prophets created more work for the students and for Elisha. The Bible said that they came to the Jordan River. Now, the Jordan is an interesting place. It’s at the Jordan River where Joshua took the lead from Moses. Not only was there an exchange of leadership between Moses and Joshua, but there was also an exchange on what they were getting ready to do. Because up until this point, all they did was talk about going into the Promised Land. When this exchange took place, they went from talking about going into the Promised Land to possessing the Promised Land.
It was a place of action. Elisha took the place of Elijah at the Jordan. So, what that means for some of us is that you are transitioning from following. Remember, Elisha washed the hands of Elijah. You’re transitioning from following to leading. There is a shift that takes place where now you are the one in the lead, and there are others who are now following you. It’s at the Jordan River where the spotlight shifted from the ministry of John the Baptist to the ministry of Jesus. Remember what John said? “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” It’s a place where God is leading you into the promise, but you have to make sure that He’s the one who gets all the glory. It’s a place of transition from something old to something new, from the end of one thing to the beginning of something else. It’s also a place where things begin to open up for you in the natural and in the spirit.
This is a place of great empowerment. It is a place of great affirmation and confirmation. This is what you’ve been praying for. This is what you’ve been believing God for. This is what you’ve been working for. Things are beginning to open up, and we have to be careful. Not only is success work, but it is also rewarding. Jordan is a powerful place. Things are opening up. You’re moving into new territory, you’re receiving the promises of God, and you’re growing spiritually. And the Bible said that when they got to the Jordan and began to swing their axes, trees began to fall.
What does that mean for us? This is where things begin to fall into place in your life. How many of you know that’s a beautiful thing? That’s a beautiful thing when things begin to just fall into place. But here’s what we have to be careful of. As quick as success comes, it can also go because something happened during the transition. And if we’re not careful, when we get ready to transition from follower to leader and while we are chopping at the Jordan, the Bible said that the ax head came off and it fell into the river. And in an instant, in a moment, he lost his cutting edge. And if we’re not careful, we can allow success to spoil us and we can lose our cutting edge. We can become spiritually dull at the Jordan. We can lose that edge that got us to that place.
The ax head represents the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
Without an edge, the trees will not be harvested. Without an edge, the trees cannot come down. And if the trees do not come down, the house cannot be built. We cannot grow if the trees are not coming down. Now, what does that mean for us about losing our cutting edge? What is the ax head symbolic of? Well, the ax head is symbolic of the power of the Spirit of God. It’s the power, and it is the presence of the Holy Spirit. He is the one who makes a difference in every situation of our life. When we lose our cutting edge, when we lose the intimacy with the Holy Spirit, then we are reduced to just the ax handle. And how many of you know it is impossible to chop a tree down without the head?
Trees in the Bible are symbolic of people.
Remember when Jesus, in Mark Chapter 8, healed the blind man? He said, “What do you see?” The blind man said, “I see men as trees walking.” The psalmist says in Psalm 1, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree that’s planted by the rivers of water.” In our story, the trees represent people. The ax head is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. And the handle is symbolic of us without the power of the Holy Spirit operating in our life. Now, you apply this any way you want to apply it. I’m talking about building a church. I’m talking about building people. But you can apply this with your family. You can apply this with your individual life. You can apply this in relationships. You can apply this in business. It takes the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit for you and me to be successful in building and doing what God has called us to do.
And so, a tree was taken down. It was stripped, and it was shaped into a handle. Trees represent people. We were harvested, which was being saved, and brought into the Kingdom. God stripped us and began to mold and shape us for His service and His work. Paul, also in First Corinthians 13, talks about the symbolism of wood, and wood is symbolic of our flesh. He talks about how things will be tried in the fire – wood, hay, and stubble. Anything built, done, accomplished in our flesh outside of the Spirit of God, the Bible says, will not last. It will be burned up. There will be no reward for it. Why? Because it was done without the Spirit, and it was done according to the flesh.
We have polished ax handles but no power.
And he simply says, you don’t lose your salvation, but you lose your reward. We have to make sure that what we are building is not of the flesh, but of and by the Spirit of God. As I look at the landscape, I see a lot of polished handles in the Church, but I don’t see a lot of power. We have polished singing, we have polished preaching, we have polished productions, we have polished programs, but trees are not falling. And without the trees, we cannot build the house that God has called us to build. What happens is we keep beating and beating on the trees. We wear ourselves out, and we wound them. We are not connected to the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to do what we do, and also convicts them to turn their hearts to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
It’s hard to maintain anything without the ax head. It’s hard to maintain a marriage. It’s hard to raise children. It’s hard to profit in business. It’s impossible to build anything that will last without the ax head being part of it. And that’s what’s happened to many churches and many individuals. We’ve been reduced to handles, and many are working harder than they’ve ever worked before. But there’s still no harvest.
How do I get my edge back? Admit you lost it.
I believe that God has us in the place where we are tired of just chopping and chopping and chopping and chopping without any edge, without any power behind it, without any results taking place. And I believe that God is gearing up for us to rediscover the ax head because it’s going to surface again in our lives.
Pastor’s Prayer
Let’s just confess, we need You, Holy Spirit. We need You every day, every moment, every hour, in every situation and in every circumstance. Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, I admit that there are times that I’ve lived without the power of the ax. There are seasons that I’ve worked without it. Those are also times where we personally have seen no results. So, I lead this congregation in a time of confession for just using our flesh. We admit that there are times when we’ve lost our edge, but we’ve continued without it. I’m asking right now that we would regain the cutting edge. In our personal lives, in our marriages, in our families, in our churches, in our businesses, we need that cutting edge. And I know that if we will cry out, You will respond to us. You will not turn Your ear to our cry. We cry out to You. And we ask You now to begin the process of putting the ax head back on the handle. In Jesus’s mighty name, let it be. Amen.